The green anole lizard is usually sold in pet shops as a chameleon, by which
name it has been known to generations of American children, The true Chameleon
and the green anole are actually different animals, but they do have much in
common. They are both lizards. Most live in trees or bushes, subsisting mainly on
insects. Both can change color, although the anole's ability to do so is considerably
more limited than the chameleon's. This is the trait that has made chameleons and
anoles popular as pets. However, the anole's color change, in contrast to the
chameleon's is not, as many people think, related to the color of the background.
Instead it is determined by such factors as light and temperature or by such
emotions as fright, triumph, or defeat. The chameleon is an animal of the Old
World, whereas the anoles are found in the warmer regions of North and South
America. The chameleon lays from two to forty eggs as a time, the anole only a
single egg. Recently biologists have become familiar with the anole as an excellent
animal for laboratory studies of the interaction between behavior and hormones.
The particular value of the green anoles as experimental animals is that they are
abundant and that under the appropriate conditions they will establish in the
laboratory the same social system and behavior they display in their natur.al
environment.